BOSTON—Isaiah Thomas took charge in the fourth quarter to power the Boston Celtics to a 103-99 victory over the defending NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers despite a triple-double from LeBron James.
James posted the 49th triple-double of his career but Thomas did him one better down the stretch in a battle between the Eastern Conference’s top two seeds.
Thomas, who finished with 31 points, scored five points in the final 49 seconds as the Celtics beat the Cavaliers for the first time this season after dropping the first two games.
Thomas set up three-pointers by Jae Crowder and Avery Bradley before nailing a three pointer of his own with 49 seconds left to tie the game at 99-99. He was fouled on a drive with 28 seconds left and made the free throws.
Kyrie Irving missed a jumper, Tristan Thompson got the rebound and got the ball back to a covered James who fed a wide open Deron Williams in the corner. Williams, in his second game with Cleveland, missed the long shot.
Crowder rebounded and hit two free throws with four seconds remaining.
Thomas came into the contest on a four-game shooting slump. He also had five assists, while Crowder had 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Kawhi Leonard nailed a clutch jump shot with two seconds remaining to lift the San Antonio Spurs to a 100-99 victory over the Indiana Pacers.
Leonard’s game winning shot capped a 31-point performance for the American in front of a crowd of 18,400 at the AT&T Center arena.
Leonard drained the shot despite being guarded by Pacers star Paul George. It was then George’s turn at glory but his shot from beyond the arc bounced harmlessly off the rim, ending the contest.
“Coach drew up a good play and LaMarcus (Aldridge) set a good screen for me,” Leonard said about his final shot. “We had about nine seconds. I wanted to take my time and try to get off a good shot and it ended up going in for me.”
The Spurs led 98-97 before Danny Green missed a layup with 1:46 to play. Myles Turner took advantage on the other end with a jumper 11 seconds later to give Indiana a 99-98 lead.
After a pair of empty possessions by both teams, Monta Ellis missed two free throws for the Pacers with nine seconds to play, giving San Antonio a final shot at the victory.
Elsewhere, Anthony Davis reached the 7,000 point milestone and Jrue Holiday snapped his scoring slump as the New Orleans Pelicans defeated the Detroit Pistons 109-86.
Davis scored 24 of his game high 33 points in the opening half to become the seventh-youngest player in league history to score 7,000 points.
Holiday finished with 22 points for the Pelicans who improved to 24-37 and ended a three game losing streak.
The Pelicans began a 28-17 run late in the third quarter and never looked back in front of a crowd of 14,400 at the Smoothie King Center.
The Pistons looked like a tired team as they fell to 29-32 on the season.
They shot three of 17 from the free-throw line and three of 23 from three-point range.
Forward Jon Leuer led the Pistons with 22 points, while center Andre Drummond was ejected late in the third quarter on a Flagrant 2 foul and finished with 13 points and 17 rebounds.
In Toronto, the Washington Wizards seized control early in the second quarter and never looked back, with a 105-96 win over the Toronto Raptors who had their four game win streak halted.
Bojan Bogdanovic came off the bench to score 27 points for the Wizards who won their second in a row.
The Raptors led by two points after the first quarter, but the Wizards used a surge early in the second quarter and were control the rest of the way.
Washington led by as many as 24 points late in the first half.
In Sacramento, Brook Lopez scored 24 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and the Brooklyn Nets snapped their 16-game losing streak with a 109-100 victory over the Sacramento Kings at the Golden 1 Center.
The New York Knicks meanwhile kept their slim playoff hopes alive with a 101-90 win over the Orlando Magic, behind a 20 point performance from Kristaps Porzingis.
Boston’s Al Horford flirted with a triple double by tallying nine points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
James generally scores in bunches against the Celtics and Wednesday was no different. He finished with 28 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists, while Irving scored 28 points and Thompson pulled down 13 rebounds.
James missed Saturday night’s loss to the Chicago Bulls with strep throat, but returned and scored 24 points in a 102-95 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday.
The Celtics improved to 39-22 on the season after dropping three of four after the all-star break with their best players struggling to score.
